FlashFiction.Net

When it came time to do a reading, I had often thought that, because I wrote very short fictions, I had it easy. I didn't have to read part of a novel, part of a short story, or piece together tiny parts of a longer piece. A listener could easily leave a reading of a longer piece unsatisfied, and it seemed (at times) that the author was more concerned with filling listeners with the desire to buy the book (and see how the story ends) than with satisfying listeners' desires for stories.I've come to grasp (and this thought might be part of the larger issue of self-doubt) that flash can be a very unsatisfying listen, maybe an especially unsatisfying one.

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It occurred to me during a recent reading that my very short fictions, because each piece relies so much on implication, doesn't make (necessarily) for that great a listening experience. For example, something that I take for granted as a writer (as opposed to a reader), is the title's being there whenever the reader wanted to reference it, as a first line, final line, ongoing guide. That dynamic of the title adding backstory, subtext, first/final lines, and the like doesn't work well (or maybe not at all) when the story is being read aloud. Other dynamics similarly appeared to lose their power to listeners (as opposed to readers).  In short, I sensed readers didn't "get" the flash I read to them, not even a little.

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Of course, there's the (strong) possibility that I suck as a reader of anything, be it flash, poetry, longer prose. So I'm wondering if anyone has encountered a similar "issue" with reading flash. And, I''d be thrilled if someone had some insight into what  kind of flash story seemed to work best for readings. In short, what has worked for you when reading flash aloud?